


falling

by emilia_kaisa



Series: August Break 2020 [5]
Category: Figure Skating RPF
Genre: Awkward Crush, F/M, Humor, Not Beta Read, augustbreak2020
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-11
Updated: 2020-08-11
Packaged: 2021-03-06 10:47:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,274
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25848298
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/emilia_kaisa/pseuds/emilia_kaisa
Summary: When Nate saw her for the first time, he fell from his bike.
Relationships: Nathan Chen/Eliška Březinová
Series: August Break 2020 [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1859830
Comments: 5
Kudos: 8





	falling

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt nr 5 was 'wheels' and my brain went to bikes and bikes led me to Nate and I got this little silly idea! I had much fun writing and I hope you enjoy!

Nate was riding his bike, relaxed and careless, heading for a Saturday grill party and Michal and Danielle's, content with life and happy that he had such nice training mates, that were now his friends, people he liked both on the ice and off of it. He stepped on the pedals harder, making his way up the small hill his friends' house was built on. He was in a good shape, really, but his muscles burnt a little at the end, after a week of intense training and now a few kilometres of ride through a sun-filled city, luckily with some cold breeze to soothe his skin and give him hope he wouldn't look like a damp dishrag. He let out a relieved groan when the road turned flat again, and there it was, his destination-

And that was when he saw her, standing by a gate to Michal and Danielle's front yard, a figure dressed in a dress in a color of cornflower and looking at the road curiously. A bit puzzled, Nate slowed down, closer and closer, eyes focused on the stranger, and then he yelped loudly as the front wheel got caught in a whole in the asphalt and he fell down awkwardly, right in front of the girl's face.

"Ughch!" he screeched, both of surprise, embarrassment and annoying pain in his right forearm, where his skin burned a little after meeting the hard ground.

"Are you okay?" the girl asked with worry, voice melodic and accented, and Nate nodded frantically, getting up as fast as he could.

"Yeah, I-" he started, ready to brush it off and play cool, but ended up staring dumbly into the prettiest eyes he had ever seen, big and glittering with the color of the ocean.

"I, umm-"

"Nate, mate, you alright?" Michal asked, appearing from nowhere "Saw you finished your ride with fashion!"

"Just a little scratch." Nate mumbled, his face getting warmer as he tried not to glance at the pretty stranger, and Michal nodded, smiling at him.

"Come inside, you'll clean it up. Also, I see you've already met my sister?"

* * *

Nate jogger slowly to the end of the corridor and then turned around by the elevators, going in the opposite direction. He knew it was dumb, but he had to do something, and his brain was refusing to focus on reading or youtube. He was feeling jittery, buzzing with nerves and excitement. He really, really wanted to make up for the disappointment that Pyeongchang had been, and since Romain lost a battle with jet lag and was snoring happily, leaving Nate with no game partner, he chose his little exercises.

Somewhere around seventeenth round one of the door clicked and Nate saw Michal stepping out of his room, dressed in jeans and nice shirt.

"Hey, what are you doing here?" he asked good naturedly and Nate shrugged, feeling a little awkward and glancing at his shoes.

"Have a lot of energy to burn." he said and Michal hummed, tilting his head.

"I'm heading out for dinner, wanna join?"

"Sure!" Nate brightened up, happy with the prospect of having a company and eating some delicious Italian food "Uhm, I should probably change?" he muttered, looking down at his sweatpants, and Michal shook his head.

"Nah, you look fine! And the place is super close."

"Cool!"

"Cool." Michal agreed, smiling widely as they started walking "Now we're just get Danielle and Eliška and we're good."

At that, Nate almost screeched out loud, and only his carefully crafted composure allowed him to only smile, and he just prayed Michal didn't notice his blush. Because seriously, the last thing he needed was explaining to his training mate that he might have had a tiny little crush on his sister. And it wasn't anything big, really, not like Nate's world was shaking or something- but since the moment he had met Eliška two years earlier, his heart always fluttered a little bit at the mention of her name, and the thought of meeting her was making him both happy and a little bit nervous. And well, they hadn't really seen each other since that one meeting back in California, only extended some messages on instagram, mostly responding to each other's stories, a connection Nate had with so many other skaters.

But well, other skaters weren't making Nate fall from his bike, that was a scientifically proven fact.

She looked even prettier than Nate remembered, and smiled at him so bright he had to swallow hard to make sure his voice wouldn't crack stupidly before he greeted her. They all headed to a nearby restaurant, and Nate was so distracted he wasn't even sure which pizza he ordered, and he tried to be cool and confident, which was kinda hard with Eliška sitting right on the other side of the table, with the same kind expression still painted on her face.

It was so weird, honestly. Nate never got flustered with the ladies, always knowing what to say, how to crack a joke, be a gentleman. But for some reason in Eliška's presence he was becoming a tongue-tied fool, and all he could do was to try and take a part in the conversation Michal and Danielle were leading, while all the little wheels in his head was turning frantically as he was trying to come up with something clever to say.

he was so caught in his head he almost missed the fact that she was talking to him, clearly asking him something, and his face burned as he apologized clumsily and asked her to repeat.

"It's okay."she chuckled when he repeated his sorrys once again "Nervous?"

"A bit." Nate admitted, shrugging awkwardly "But I'm being positive. You?"

"I'm really happy to be here!" Eliška laughed, bright and happy, and Nate's heart skipped a beat.

There was something so bright about her, warm and relaxing, and Nate let himself long after a scenario in which she wasn't living an ocean away and wasn't his friend's little sister. But luckily for him he couldn't dwell on it too much because their food came and Nate realized with horror that he had apparently ordered a pizza with mushrooms, and that was a thing he dreaded with all his heart.

He was staring down at his plate, wondering if he should be a man or maybe embarrass himself with taking the mushrooms off, when Eliška spoke again, reaching to tap his hand lightly and almost making him jump.

"So I messed up." she announced, and Nate blinked rapidly, confused "I didn't read carefully and ordered one with black olives and I don't like them, do you maybe want to switch? I didn't start yet."

"Since when you don't like olives?" Michal chimed in, slightly surprised, and Eliška shrugged.

"My taste buds got really picky."

Nate's ears were burning, but he smiled, half grateful and half embarrassed, and helped her switch the plates, letting out a discreet sigh of relief.

"Thanks." he murmured, and she smiled.

"The pleasure is mine." she said before taking a bite, and for some reason Nate felt incredibly bold.

"Are you planning to visiti the States?"

"Yes, actually! I think maybe I will come for some time in June!"

"Nice." Nate nodded, and decided to just go for it "Would be cool to hang out. Maybe? If-"

"Yeah." she said, and Nate wasn't sure if she was saying it only to end his misery, but he just let himself feel happy and finally, kinda relaxed, and he almost forgot about all the expectations and stuff that was making him feel a little less anxious.  
  


**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading!


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